Editor’s note: This article is reprinted with permission from The Heart Taken Up: 90 Days with the Puritans published by Reformation Heritage Books.
Who can contemplate the sparkling of this perfection without falling flat before God in a posture of reverence to so great a being? (Stephen Charnock)
As I sit in a plane awaiting takeoff, I have a limited view of my surroundings. I can see the screen in front of me, several people sitting nearby, the flight attendants as they pass in the aisle, and—through the window—I can see a couple of planes taxiing out to the runway. That is all. But I know there is an individual sitting in the air-traffic control tower whose view is very different from mine. He sees the entire airport, and he has access to monitors that show him the flight path of every plane in the air. Similarly, God’s view is very different from ours. As a matter of fact, His wisdom is so far superior to ours that His “foolishness…is wiser than men” (1 Cor. 1:25).
According to Stephen Charnock in Discourses upon the Existence and Attributes of God, God’s wisdom possesses seven properties. First, he says that God is necessarily wise: “He does not make Himself wise, no more than He makes Himself God.” In other words, He is wise because He is God. “With Him are wisdom and strength, He has counsel and understanding” (Job 12:13).
Second, God is originally wise. Charnock observes, “He does not go out of Himself to search for wisdom.” He is not dependent on anything to inform Him. “With whom did He take counsel, and who instructed Him?” (Isa. 40:14).
Third, God is perfectly wise, he poetically explains: “There is no cloud upon His understanding.” He is never mistaken, and everyone is foolish in comparison to Him. “He puts no trust in His servants…. He charges His angels with error” ( Job 4:18).
Fourth, God is universally wise. Charnock asserts, “His wisdom orders all things, so that nothing is done but what is fit and convenient, and agreeable to so excellent a being”; that is, His wisdom extends to all things. He “works all things according to the counsel of His will” (Eph. 1:11).
Fifth, God is perpetually wise. “It is an infinite wisdom, and therefore without increase or decrease,” he declares. God knows nothing of change, and thus His wisdom is not subject to alteration. “The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of His heart to all generations” (Ps. 33:11).
Sixth, Charnock points out, God is incomprehensibly wise: “It is a splendor more dazzling to our dim minds than the light of the sun to our weak eyes.” His wisdom far exceeds our grasp because the finite cannot comprehend the infinite. “Can you search out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limits of the Almighty?” ( Job 11:7).
Seventh, God is infallibly wise. Charnock writes, “As nothing can resist the efficacy of His will, so nothing can countermine the skill of His counsel.” There is no rival to His wisdom. Solomon tells us, “There is no wisdom or understanding or counsel against the Lord” (Prov. 21:30).
We see the depth of God’s wisdom in creation: “O Lord, how manifold are Your works! In wisdom You have made them all. The earth is full of Your possessions” (Ps. 104:24). Far exceeding creation, we see the depth of God’s wisdom in redemption. In Christ, we have deity and humanity united. He is one person in two natures, containing the perfections of God and the weaknesses of man. Precept and penalty are satisfied in Christ. His active obedience satisfies God’s precept while His passive obedience satisfies God’s penalty. Also, justice and mercy are reconciled. Christ satisfies God’s offended justice thereby securing God’s boundless mercy. In Christ, we have suffering and victory harmonized. He suffered the shame of the cross and, in so doing, triumphed over sin.
We should make God’s wisdom a frequent object of our meditation. As Charnock remarks, “Who can contemplate the sparkling of this perfection in the variety of the works of His hands, and the exact government of all His creatures, without a raised admiration of the excellence of His being, and a falling flat before Him in a posture of reverence to so great a being?”
Our Father, we bless You for Your wondrous acts of salvation. May You grant us hope this day through the
encouragement of Your word. May Your commands compel us to holiness, and may Your promises compel us to faithfulness. In Christ’s name we pray. Amen.
